The present application relates generally to electronic multiplayer tournaments involving games-of-chance like video slots, video poker and the like and, more particularly, to winning real-money prizes during such tournaments, in addition to or rather than, tournament prize money. Such electronic tournaments can be played on a computer workstation communicating over a computer network such as the Internet with a central gaming server. Such tournaments can also be played on a workstation taking the form of an electronic video gaming terminal that is installed in a casino-type environment, for example.
An electronic multiplayer tournament based on an underlying game-of-chance generally comprises a number of rounds, each round involving one or more instances of the game-of-chance (hereinafter, game) in which players participate. Depending on the type of game, each instance may involve one or more hands, turns, spins, or other wagering events during the game.
As one example, in an electronic multiplayer video slot tournament, each game instance typically may be a single virtual slot machine. Typically, a single player will play the virtual slot machine by wagering and spinning that single virtual slot machine. The single player competes along with other similarly situated players, who each play by wagering and spinning their associated virtual slot machines. Generally, each round consists of one or more spins, with a typical round involving a fixed time limit, a fixed number of spins (i.e., turns of the game), or both.
To participate in an electronic multiplayer tournament, a player is typically required to pay a tournament entry fee, of which a portion is a contribution to tournament prize money and the remaining portion being a fee for the organizers of the tournament. For example, if the prize money contribution is $40 and the tournament organizers' fee is $4, each player participating in the tournament is required to pay an entry fee of $44 to the tournament organizers in order to play. The prize money contributions from all the participating players in the tournament are pooled to form the tournament prize money.
At the start of the tournament, each participating player is provided with an identical quantity of tournament credit. This tournament credit may typically be used as counters to determine the ultimate winner(s) of the tournament. The tournament prize money is distributed among the top-placed finishers in the tournament. Each player consumes his tournament credit by making wagers on turns of the game. Any winnings arising from successful wagers during the player's turns of the game can be accounted for in two ways: the winnings may be credited back to the player's tournament credit balance or, alternatively, the winnings may be accumulated in a separate tournament winnings account associated with the player.
If there is more than one round in a tournament, the number of players in each successive tournament round is typically smaller than the number of players in each preceding round. In a video slots tournament, for example, at the end of a round, a predetermined number of players who have performed best during that round will proceed to the next round of the tournament, the remaining players being eliminated. The players who have performed best in any around are those having the top credit balances, either top tournament credit balances where winnings are credited back to players' tournament credit balances, or top winnings balances where winnings are accumulated in separate player tournament winnings accounts.
Ultimately, the number of surviving players is whittled down, round by round, until a sufficiently small number of players remain so that they are all “in-the-money,” i.e., entitled to a share of the prize money. Once the surviving players in a tournament are all in-the-money, they can play out the tournament to the end to determine an overall winner. Generally, each player will collect a share of the prize money corresponding to that player's eventual finishing position.
It will be appreciated that, in the art, players who participate in online video slot tournaments are only eligible to win a share of the tournament prize money as described above. Any winnings arising out of play of the video slots game during the tournament cannot be redeemed for value since a player's tournament credit balance and, if applicable, a player's winnings balance are only used as counters to determine the ultimate winner(s) of the tournament and have no significance outside of the tournament itself.